Night Sky
by hyacinth beaver
Summary: He would come back. He promised.DHr


What was it about the night sky that held her attention so? Her eyes seemed glued to it with utter content and it made him wonder. Was it the glistening stars that lit up the heavens with their soft and subtle glow? Or was it the moon who's beams searched the sky for patches of darkness that it could illuminate? He always wondered as he looked at her/ He searched her eyes for the reason that he craved. He wondered on why such captivation could be caused.

"**What are you thinking about"** His train of thought was broken when her timid voice rang in his ears in a silent inquiry. In all honesty, he had not noticed that she had shifted her gaze from above only to look into his eyes as if she was not the one searching for an answer. Her deep russet eyes were tenderly asking him the question that her voice had just declared.

"**Honestly?"** He asked her. He was a bit embarrassed of the possible answers that may arise from his daze. He answered her in a surprised tone for he never expected that she would ask. Why would his thoughts bring any curiosity? It was not as if his mattered in any way. They were just random thoughts as far as he was concerned, random thoughts about her. **"You." **He finally replied as he diverted his eyes from hers as if to hide anymore secrets that they might reveal.

"**Me?"** She looked surprised. He had been thinking about her? What whim had prompted him to do so? She was nothing extraordinary. She was not on a high pedestal in his mind. She was just a simple person, nothing eye catching or thought provoking at all. She was unknowingly smiling. Maybe it was because she now had the satisfaction of knowing that she had a corner in his thoughts, a corner all for her. **"But why?"**

He smiled at her. She was so naïve not to know the reason for his answer. She had been the beautiful dream that plagued his dreams. He saw her face in the most unseemly of places. In a crowded street. In a deserted square. In a blank sheet of paper. She was everywhere and yet here she was, surprised about his thoughts of her. But when it came to her question, why...he was actually as clueless as her. He thought about her constantly and he had no idea why. **"Frankly, I don't know."**

His answer seemed to suffice for her. It was as if she understood. She looked away from him and looked towards the heavens once again. A cold breeze blew in her face, it was a breeze that brought an ominous feeling. **"Are you worried. About tomorrow I mean."**She asked him, without even shifting her glance.

Ah, yes. Tomorrow. It was late and dawn was nearing. Tomorrow was coming a bit too quickly for his liking. It was the day when all would be decided, when all would end and a new beginning arise. It was the Reckoning. Truth be told, he was terrified. The day to come held no certainty other than blood and death. It had all been left to fate. No amount of preparations or training could define its outcome. Of course he was scared. **"I am. You?" **He was even more scared for her, but she would still be safer in the sanctums of her prison rather than any battlefield he was to go to.

"**Horrified."** She admitted. He could see it in her sweet eyes. She was scared to death. He couldn't blame her. But he did know that her guilt surpassed any fear that she has in her heart. Her family had died and the only people she considered family now was to be hoisted to the front lines of the battle where pain and suffering were certain to meet them. She was afraid. She was afraid of losing everything. She was afraid of seeing all that she love wither underneath the earth as she buried them. But she felt guilty at the same time. She felt guilty because of the fact that while all were fighting for the cause they were willing to die for, she would be locked away in a cold dark room, only imagining on what was happening in the outer world. All she had was a window, a window that became her sanctuary from the bitterness of her own remorse. He knew how she felt. He knew how much she needed to know that all would be alright.

He raised his hand and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. He took out an immaculately white handkerchief and wrapped it around his index finder. Carefully, he dabbed this on her soft, tender cheek to take away the tears that had stained her already grieving features. Pity filled him. Death had taken more than lives from her, it had taken her hope, hope that once filled her heart. She was now a shadow of what she used to be before the war. The deaths had made her frail and vulnerable. She was no longer as strong as everyone imagined her to be. She had recoiled in a shell and tried to escape all the ills that plagued her. People accused her of being weak. They told her that she was succumbing to pain when it should have made her stronger. He hated those people. How could they accuse her of such things when they very well knew what she had been through. She was strong for simply finding the will to keep on living, even though it was a life scarred and incomplete. The harshness of death had preyed on her once headstrong soul until all that was left was a painful reminder of her humanity. She was not invincible after all. For now, she didn't need to be strong. He had reassured her of that. He would be strong enough for the both of them. He would save her any pain that threatened her already tattered soul. **"I will bring them back. I will keep them safe and I will bring them back." **He cupped her hands in his and stroked her nimble fingers gently, as if they were made of glass.

She looked into his eyes and tears once again spilled onto her tired looking face. **"Just make sure that you come back just as safe as the rest of them."** There was no trace of jest in her eyes as she spoke her words. She asked it of him whole heartedly. She never asked anything of him, but now she was. She did not want to lose him. She wanted him there with her. How cruel was life to give you constancy only to snatch it away as quickly as it came? She had come to rely on him and his company so much. It was his daily visits that she had come to miss during the times of her slumber. She was attached to his company now more than ever. He had been with her every moment that she had needed him, and she wanted to keep it that way. Perhaps, 'attach' was too light a word. What she felt for him now had gone far beyond attachment. Perhaps it was safe to say that her affections for his presence was now anchored on love. Yes. Love.

"**I will come back. I promise." **He looked at her earnestly. He had made a promise, and he never broke her promises, not ones he made to her.

He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. It was a tender kiss filled with all the assurance she needed that he would keep all his promises. She never wanted this moment to end. His lips on her forehead was the only time in her whole life that she felt utterly and completely safe. She want to move, she didn't want him to leave. But she knew, he had to.

He lifted her soft kiss from her and turned around. He walked towards the door . As his steps hit the wooden floor, her heart pounded in her chest. Each beat screaming for her to stop him. Run to the door. Say something! Make him stay! **"Maybe..."** she shakily started. She was unsure of what to say, but it seemed that the words simply flowed out of her without her knowledge. **"Maybe, you could stay with me."** She looked at him with her hopeful eyes. It was the first time she had felt hope in a long time. It consumed her. All she could think about was his answer and how it would make her feel. _"Please say yes."_

He turned around and looked at her. She was sincere. It was no dream haunting him with things that would never come to pass. It was all real. She was asking him to stay. Not just stay, she was asking him to stay with her. His heart leaped inside of him. The trace of bitterness and frost left in his eyes melted away under the intensity of her intent gaze. **"Please?" **She asked of him once more. There was nothing left in him. He found not the courage to refuse her.

"**Of course." **He silently replied. He turned back at her only to see that she had made room for him to sit by her. She was now at the far left corner of the sofa. He walked towards her and sat down. She instantly laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. They rested and soon sleep found them amidst their delicate tranquility. The moon beams shone through the window and highlighted their joint forms in the darkness that enveloped them. All their worries seemed to feign in each other's silent heartbeat. They had found serenity in each other, serenity that neither had even dreamed of attaining until death. It was in this moment that they were both ultimately content.

&&&

She was looking outside her window once more. The night sky shone once more with the brilliance of all that illuminated it that night. The stars once more softly shone and the moon yet again sent it's rays to caress her features. She looked at it with the same intensity that she had always looked, but now, she believed that it had lost most of its glimmer. A letter was in her lap. It was a letter opened and stained with the tears that still fell upon her cheeks.

She woke up that morning to find that they were still on the sofa. She concluded that she had fallen asleep on it the earlier night. But something was missing when she awoke. The warmth and security she had felt once had now turned into a cold draft that the blanket that covered her couldn't keep from her. He was gone. She looked around for any trace of him, but all she found was a piece of parchment, not addressed and unsigned. It was the same peace of parchment she had been reading for the entire day. Although he didn't address it to her or sign the letter itself, she knew it was from him and she was certain that it was meant for her.

_**If you are reading this letter, then that must mean that you are awake from a good night's rest...and that I have left for the war ahead. I have an idea of how you must feel right now. I am sorry if I am causing you any pain right now. You know that I have never had the intention of inflicting injury on you. You also know that I had to leave. Last night was an interlude, a look at what our life will be like when I return.**_

_**You asked my last night why I thought of you. I told you that I didn't know. Well, I lied. I had known the answer for a while now. You bring constancy in my life. No matter what people may say, I do believe that you may have saved me from my self, from the agony of my own remorse. That is why I left. I needed to ensure that what we had last night was not a moment, but an eternity. I want to spend the rest of my life watching you stare into the night sky. I am scared that if I stay, then that would mean I would put you in jeopardy. I am scared of the unknown. I am scared of death. But the thing that scares me the most is the thought that I might lose you. I love you.**_

_**I apologize for telling you only know, and merely in a letter. I have tried many times to say this, but in the end, this was the only way I could think of. I will come back. I promise. And when I do, please tell me that you feel the same.**_

That was it. Tears streamed down her face fiercer now. She couldn't understand why he had just thought of it, this moment to tell her his true affections for her. Why couldn't he had told her before, as he said...they would have had ages together. But no. They merely had interludes, mere interludes in the on going tale of their lives. She wished he could have been there as she read the letter, for she would have said yes with out a second thought. Now, he had even more reason to come back. He promised, there for she knew that he would keep his promise. **"Come back to me."** she whispered to the evening breeze that gently swayed her hair.

But then a loud banging came from the doors that had kept her out of the world for so long. It grew louder and harder. Something lay behind those doors. What ever came though, there would be no escape.

"**Hermione!" **Two voices shouted. They were familiar voices, voices she had heard for almost all of the past years of her life. The doors came down and she was face to face with the only family she had left.

"**It can't be..."**She uttered quietly, the two figures ran towards her and pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace that seemed to last hours at an end. It was her boys. **"Ron? Harry?" **No. They were no longer boys but grown men. She fingered the contours of their faces as evidences of their aging. She had missed so much. She lost the chance to watch them grow up to be the men that stood before her right now.** "I missed you both so much."**

"**Hermione! We missed you so much! When you were taken we didn't know what had become of you. But you are safe now! You are safe!" **Ron laughed with a glee many had lost over the years. He smoothened her hair with gentle strokes. She had missed the way he did that.

"**He is dead Mione! Voldemort is finally dead!" **Harry beamed at her.

"**You did it Harry!" **So many things were running though her mind. Voldemort was dead. They were finally free! The war had ended and they were finally free! She was finally free! There was now that chance, no, hope for peace that none had even fathomed would happen in their life times. But then a dark cloud came above her. The war was over. The light had won. _"Oh no. Please no."_ She would not believe it. **"Where is Draco?"** she asked with much fear in her shaking voice.

"**He is dead Hermione, all along with the other Death Eater scum."**Ron replied indignantly. **"You don't have to worry Hermione. The bastard is gone. You are free." **

Hermione's face paled and her blood ran cold. He could not die. Not now. He had promised her that he would come back! They were wrong. He was not dead. _"No." _She defiantly thought. She would not accept it. **"Where is he?"**

"**He is dead Mione."** Harry cooed as he enveloped her in his arms. **"I killed him my self. After taking you, that was what he deserved."**

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. No. He could not be dead. He promised he would come back! He could not be dead. **"Take me to him!" **she started to cry hysterically. This was not the way it was supposed to happen.

The two looked at each other with equal amounts of confusion in their faces. Why would Hermione want to see Draco's dead body? The concluded that it was just a victim wanting to be assured that her captor was indeed gone so they naively left the room she had called home and moved along the dark corridors of the Manor. She had been brought to the Malfoy gardens where the air was heavy with the smell of death and the Death Eater's blood stained the grass and flowers.

Instantly, Hermione spotted Draco's body lying limp and lifeless on the cold Earth. He looked as if he was in a peaceful slumber, but breath never seemed to come out of him. She lied down on the grass beside him and looked into his empty steel grey eyes, searching for any sign of life.

"**Wake up Draco." **She whispered to him. **"Wake up. You can't sleep for ever you know. You have to get up. You have to get up because I need to tell you something." **She shook him lightly by the shoulder. Nothing. **"You know that letter you sent me, well I have a reply. I love you too. I always have. Draco I love you. I love you. There. You know. So now, you need to wake up so we can spend the rest of our lives together. I want to grow old and have gray hairs with you. You need to wake up Draco. If you don't, who will I watch the night sky with? Who will I make wished on stars with? Who will take care of me? Who will be strong for me. I don't want to be strong anymore Draco! I need you to be strong for me! You said you would always be there to be strong for me! So please wake up. Please Draco. Please? Please?" **She went on pleading him to wake up. **"You promised me you would come back! You promised! You never break promises! Not to me! WAKE UP! PLEASE!" **She wanted to turn back time. She wanted to go back and save him. She wanted to go back and tell him that she loved him. She wanted to at least kiss him goodbye before he left for the battle. But it wasn't possible. She was in the real world and no amount of magic could erase death or release her from her broken heart.

For a while, Hermione just lied there on the ground. Silent. Still. Her tears had stopped flowing and her voice had already gone hoarse. She was now just looking into his eyes. Searching for the life she knew had been taken from her yet again. Death had once again taken a part of her soul, but now, there was none of it left.

There, underneath the starry night sky, a woman lay next to the man she loved. The man who would never return to her. The moon beams danced on their forms and the stars beneath the sky told all of their secrets. He was gone, and she wished she had gone with him.

**Draco Malfoy**

**May angels lead you there my beloved Night Sky**


End file.
